Stripped down DVDs really tick me off!

Rackin frackin bare-bones DVD releases are really starting to get my goat. I, like the chump I am, bought the Sin City DVD. Imagine my horror when I recieved it and it had none of the special features I heard it would have. This version has no commentary, no deleted scenes (which I know for a fact they do plan on including later on), no gag reel, NOTHING. I am sure a special edition is just waiting down the road now, ready to pounce as soon as all the suckers (i.e. me) are done buying this one. For the record though, I didn’t even open mine and have placed it up for sale on Amazon.com as I refuse to keep this piece of garbage.

It’s getting to the point where I am nervous about buying any DVD. I am always sure there is a special edition just lurking around the corner that will have something to make me get all excited and force me to buy yet another copy of the film. My coworkers are even laughing at me because I refuse to believe that the The Lord of the Rings – The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition) is the final edition of the films. I just know something is lurking out there, ready to pounce the moment I buy it. “Oh look, we just found another 20 minutes of film for each of the movies!” That would be the cue for me to curl up in the corner and suck my own thumb.

Don’t even get me started on how “complete seasons” of tv shows are now messing around with things. Northern Exposure Season 2, as well as season 3 and seasons 2 and 3 of Quantum Leap, are missing some of their original music because the studios don’t want to pay for the licensing. Mind you, the studios did pay for all the rights on season 1 of each series, so they lured us in with a good release, and then killed us on the future releases.

I don’t buy the Roseanne seasons, but I just heard that the first season release is not the originally aired versions, but instead are the trimmed down syndicated versions. For those who don’t know, between the original airing and the syndication airing, usually about two minutes of footage is cut to make space for more advertising. In Living Color gave us a great first season, but seasons 2 & 3 are missing sketches and the music the Fly Girls danced to was changed.

So what am I getting at here? The studios have realized they have a cash cow in the form of DVD that they never had with VHS. They are also realizing they can sting the early adopters by getting us to buy second versions, or half-assed releases. To them, it doesn’t matter, but as a consumer who is very serious about his DVDs, I am getting to my breaking point.